Police Charge Man With Prowling Around Pine Neighborhood

A call to Northern Regional Police about a suspicious man wandering around houses in a Pine Township neighborhood turned into a four-hour search in the snow and dark that ended with the arrest of a man who is on probation, according to a criminal complaint.

Dameian Lee Williams, 41, of Jeannette, was charged with misdemeanor counts of loitering and prowling at night; theft from a motor vehicle and criminal conspiracy after the search that began about 1:30 a.m. Feb. 6 in the 400 block of Pinkerton Road.

Because of the fresh snow, officers saw tracks that led from the road to several homes throughout the 300 and 400 blocks, police said. The caller also told them the man had entered a vehicle, the criminal complaint states.

As the officers searched, they found a man hiding behind a shrub in the 400 block of Pinkerton who took off running, according to the criminal complaint. Police arrested Williams after officers and a canine unit tracked him, police said.

Williams waived his preliminary hearing Wednesday before Magisterial District Judge William K. Wagner. He was released from Allegheny County Jail on a $20,000 bond posted by Liberty Bail Bonds.

His girlfriend, Jessica McCready, also faces charges after police found her in a Cadillac parked in the back of a lot at the intersection of Wallace and Graham roads, the criminal complaint states.

Her preliminary hearing was postponed until March 27.

McCreary initially told police she got lost off the Turnpike and did not know where she was, court documents state. When interviewed at the police station, she said she did not know anything and made no other statements, according to the complaint.

She is charged with misdemeanor counts of theft from a motor vehicle; false reports to law enforcement; loitering and prowling at night; and criminal conspiracy. She was released from Allegheny County Jail on a $20,000 bond.

Williams told police he had McCreary drive to the area, but the car was overheating so he walked to the Pinkerton Road area and went to 10 to 15 properties and looked in vehicles for a container in which to put water for the vehicle, the complaint states.

Williams is on probation in Westmoreland County and was released from incarceration in mid-December after serving 5 1/2 years, Northern Regional Officer Scott Rick told the judge.

Rick pointed out that Williams has a lengthy record, including a 2005 arrest in Pine Township in which Williams pleaded guilty to 29 misdemeanor counts of theft from a motor vehicle; receiving stolen property; and prowling and loitering at night.

Although defense attorney William A. Brandstetter II asked for his client to be released on his own recognizance, the judge answered:

"I can tell you right now that's not happening."

Police in Allegheny, Washington and Westmoreland counties have arrested Williams multiple times since the 1990s, according to court documents.

McCready has not been arrested previously, according to Pennsylvania's United Judicial System WebPortal.

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